FOOTBALL – Bahrain punched their ticket last night to the Fifa Arab Cup 2025.
The kingdom’s senior men’s football national team secured their berth following a hard-earned 1-0 victory over 10-man Djibouti in their one-off qualifying contest, played at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar.
Mohammed Al Rumaihi was on target for the Bahrainis in the 36th minute to help send them through to the tournament proper, which will also be held at the Qatari capital.
With the result, Bahrain took their spot in Group D of the Fifa Arab Cup’s preliminary round, where they join defending champions Algeria, Iraq, and Sudan, who edged past Lebanon 2-1 in another qualifier yesterday.
The two games were part of a four-match schedule in yesterday’s qualification draw.
In the other fixtures, Oman defeated Somalia 4-1 and Comoros beat Yemen 4-2, both in penalty shootouts.
The 16-nation field in this year’s Fifa Arab Cup is now complete. Group A features Qatar, Tunisia, Syria, and Palestine; Group B is composed of Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Comoros; and Group C includes the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, and Kuwait.
Play in the opening phase is scheduled to begin on Monday next week, with the Bahrainis only in action on Wednesday when they take on their Iraqi counterparts. They then face their Algerian rivals on December 6, before playing their concluding Group D assignment against Sudan on December 9.
This year’s Fifa Arab Cup is its 11th edition and it is taking place for the second time under its current format organised by Fifa.
Bahrain head coach Dragan Talajic fielded a starting 11 yesterday that included Ebrahim Luthfallah between the posts; Abdulla Al Khalasi, Vincent Emmanuel, Sayed Mahmoud Al Mousawi, and Waleed Al Hayyam in defence; Komail Al Aswad, Mohammed Jassim Marhoon, Ali Madan, and Sayed Dhiya Saeed in midfield; and Al Rumaihi with Mahdi Abduljabbar as their strike partnership.
Marhoon had a fine opportunity to score in the 30th minute but his free-kick from a metre outside the box flew just wide of the right upright.
Al Rumaihi then put the Bahrainis in front six minutes later with a short stab from the face of goal.
Marhoon sent in a low cross from the right of the area and it was not collected by Djibouti goalkeeper Moktar Youssouf.
He instead fumbled possession and Al Rumaihi took advantage, tapping the loose ball in for the early lead.
Djibouti’s Ahmed Zakaria was then given a red card in the 41st minute after a nudge to the chest of Abduljabbar, who tried to kick the ball while it was in the arms of Youssouf.
After a VAR review, the referee decided that the reckless foul warranted a yellow card, but it was Zakaria’s second of the match after a 30th-minute booking, confirming his marching orders.
After the break, the Bahrainis had multiple chances to add to the score but they were either narrowly off target or could not beat Youssouf, who made a number of impressive saves.
Al Rumaihi had an effort in the 51st minute hit the left post before being scooped up by Youssouf, and then a shot by substitute Ebrahim Al Khattal in the 68th was stopped by the Djibouti custodian.
Another Al Rumiahi effort was parried away by Youssouf in the 76th minute, and even Sayed Hashem Issa, who came on late in the game, had a header go above the crossbar in the 89th minute.
In this year’s Fifa Arab Cup, the Bahrainis will be looking to improve on their campaign from the previous edition held in 2021, which also took place in Doha.
They bowed out in the preliminaries then after finishing their Group A campaign with just one point from three matches.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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